Headwaters Academy Speaker Series​

NYC Chief Technology Officer Minerva Tantoco to Speak on Women in Tech at Museum of the Rockies

​New York City’s first Chief Technology Officer, Minerva Tantoco, will speak at a free public event Friday, October 23, at 7:00 pm in the Hager Auditorium at the Museum of the Rockies. Ms. Tantoco will discuss experiences that inspired her journey from college pre-med major into success in the male-dominated tech industry, and on to taking the leadership role in NYC’s development as an innovation hub. Headwaters Academy is hosting this event as a part of the Headwaters Academy Speaker Series.

As NYC’s first-ever CTO, Tantoco directs the Mayor’s Office of Technology and Innovation with responsibility for the development and implementation of a coordinated citywide strategy on technology and innovation and encouraging collaboration across agencies and with the wider New York City technology ecosystem.

Headwaters Academy is inviting Ms. Tantoco to present her “Women in Tech” talk to energize girls about the importance of STEM education as a foundation for later involvement in the tech industry. This event is free and open to the public.

Ms. Tantoco has a varied tech career prior to her work with NYC beginning with co-founding technology startup, Manageware Inc, which was successfully sold five years later. Since then, Ms. Tantoco has led emerging technology initiatives including artificial intelligence, e-commerce, virtualization, online marketing and mobile applications. She holds four US patents on intelligent workflow and is a speaker and author on mobile, security, big data, and innovation.

Headwaters Academy Speaker Series Welcomes Alexandra Fuller: A Writer's Talk For Young People

Acclaimed writer, Alexandra Fuller, spoke at a free public event Friday, May 1, at 7:00 pm in the Hager Auditorium at the Museum of the Rockies. Fuller discussed experiences that inspired her personal memoir, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood – her debut book which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 2002 and received several additional accolades. Headwaters Academy hosted this event as a part of the Headwaters Academy Speaker Series.

Born in England and raised in Africa, Fuller now lives in Wyoming. Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, tells the story of her childhood in Rhodesia, Zambia and Malawi. Her family lived through war, forced relocation, and desolate environments yet Fuller writes about her childhood and Africa with deep affection and humor.

Headwaters Academy invited Ms. Fuller to talk specifically about the life she describes in her first book, her ability to overcome adversity and the resiliency that enabled her to not only survive but also thrive in these circumstances. Headwaters Academy students conducted a panel Q&A following Ms. Fuller’s reading and talk. This Headwaters Academy Speaker Series presentation was an ideal outing for families with middle school aged children. This event was free and open to the public.

Fuller’s other books include Cocktail Hour under the Tree of Forgetfulness, The Legend of Colton H. Bryant and Scribbling the Cat: Travels with an African Soldier. Fuller has also written extensively for magazines and newspapers, including The New Yorker, Vogue, and National Geographic. Fuller’s latest book is a memoir of marriage and divorce entitled, Before the Rains Come.

Screening of "wolverine-chasing the phantom" followed by Panel Discussion

Award-winning Bozeman producer and writer Gianna Savoie headlined a panel discussion at the Museum of the Rockies following an exclusive screening of her PBS documentary, “Wolverine: Chasing the Phantom,” a film exploring the secretive world of this most elusive creature. Presented by Headwaters Academy in the Hager Auditorium, the event took place on Friday, Oct. 10, 2014. A moderated panel discussion and Q&A followed the film with filmmaker Savoie, along with Rebecca Watters, conservationist with Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative, and Adrienne Maxwell, environmental lawyer with Earthjustice.Filmed by cinematographer, Joseph Pontecorvo, in the million-acre wilderness of Glacier National Park, Montana, the story of the wolverine is told with the help of interviews with author and wolverine enthusiast, Doug Chadwick, along with wildlife filmmaker and Alaskan animal refuge advocate, Steven Kroschel.Savoie is an instructor in the MFA program for Science and Natural History Filmmaking at Montana State University.

"Not Yet Begun to Fight," which originally aired on PBS, was exclusively screened at the Museum of the Rockies for Headwaters Academy's Second Speaker Series. Headwaters Academy hosted Bozeman, Montana’s own filmmaker, Sabrina Lee, along with her co-director, Shasta Grenier, to show their latest film, Not Yet Begun to Fight. Not Yet Begun to Fight reveals how America’s wounded warriors heal their emotional scars and stress disorders through the tranquility of fly-fishing on Montana’s beautiful rivers. The story is told through the thoughtful replies of a group of young, struggling veterans and their mentor, retired Marine Colonel Eric Hastings, who heads “Warriors and Quiet Waters.“ Their candid responses expose their own afflictions, mentally and physically. Slowly, as the documentary unfolds, we see Colonel Hastings and other volunteers not only teach the veterans to catch and release the fish, but also meet all their needs so they can float down the river in nature’s splendor and seek freedom from within the prison of stress. Hastings explains that the soldiers learn to live despite their injuries and trauma. They go fly-fishing and celebrate life. This documentary reaches the soul. The critically acclaimed film, "Not Yet Begun to Fight," has won a number of prestigious festival honors and was selected by Roger Ebert in 2013 to be one of twelve films shown at his personal festival.

Genetics expert explains latest genome research to HWA students

Headwaters Academy seventh grade students interact with Dr. Shawn C. Baker via Skype. He is the Chief Science Officer and co-founder of AllSeq, (formerly BlueSEQ) an independent guide for researchers outsourcing their DNA sequencing. Having received his Ph.D. at the University of California – Davis, he started his career as a Research Scientist at Illumina when it was a 15-person startup. After spending several years at the bench developing gene expression array products, he transitioned to Product Marketing where he led a team in charge of Illumina’s Expression and Regulation sequencing portfolio.

Headwaters Academy hosted prolific writer and filmmaker, John Heminway, to show his latest National Geographic film, Battle for the Elephants

The audience viewed the hour-long film and then John spent the rest of the evening in Q & A session engaging the audience at the Hager Auditorium. "Battle for the Elephants" aired in February 2013, tells the story of the world’s most majestic animal, as it fights for survival against the ivory tusk market. John Heminway and his crew go undercover to expose the illegal operatives, the people working to meet China’s demand. The film also reveals the elephant’s evolution — showing its society, intelligence, memory, communication, and ability to love. This beautiful, photographic tale affects all who view it and exposes the tragedy of what is happening in Africa.

Heminway, who lives in Bozeman and travels throughout the world, has been recognized for his talent in writing and film production through numerous awards. His film specials and series have been in collaboration with National Geographic, Discovery, Discovery Kids, Animal Planet, Discovery HD, PBS Series, and ABC Sports. Currently, he has written his seventh book to be published this year in the UK. Flight: An African Icon and her Life In Secret, discloses the story of Dr. Anne Spoerry, who survived Ravensbrück Concentration Camp and saved the lives of tribal people by flying to the remotest corners of East Africa.

Former Headwater Academy student Josiah and his best friend, Ridgely win prestigious Barron “Young American Heroes Award” for the efforts to help save the endangered nautilus. Seventh grade student Josiah recently moved to the Bozeman area from Maine where he and Ridgely worked to help Dr. Ward protect the nautilus. A few years ago Josiah read a newspaper article about the nautili’s declining numbers and contacted the research scientist, Dr. Ward at the University of Washington. Since that initial contact they have raised $20,00 dollars for nautilus research and have traveled to American Samoa to collect data on population density to determine the health of the species.